4 Responses to “Teen in crash may have been text messaging”

1. 1 Big Tommy C  on Nov 26th, 2005 at 8:17 pm

   Oh no, the poor kid. He has to face misdemeanor charges, but all he did was kill someone?

   I can’t believe the wife isn’t a bit more upset over it. Or that they aren’t pursuing at least a manslaughter charge.

2. 2 Steve Reger  on Nov 26th, 2005 at 9:21 pm

   I think that this brings a very important point to view for us as a society. We are cyclists. Whether or not we are roadies, mountain bikers, single speeders, fixies, downhillers, messengers, commuters, fitness freaks or even homeless pedal spinners, we are all part of a society. What differenciates us from others is that we ride bikes and they do not. To someone who rides a bike regularly for whatever reason this sounds tragic but many people will follow this story and say that the bikes get in the damn way. I am very radical in my views but what can we do? How do we get people to understand that riding a bike is more important to some than others and text messaging is dangerous when driving? It is really a terrible thing that has happened here but the even more terrible thing is that this will probably happen again and again because for some reason, it seems is if we as cyclists have less rights. I would greatly appreciate any ideas or thoughts or even plans of attack. Why don’t we get some contacts there and figure out a way of supporting this? I can invest time, who can invest ideas or assist with the time? Reply to regerfast@hotmail.com.

3. 3 Graham  on Nov 27th, 2005 at 12:36 pm

   An unusual response by the woman, at least in this day and age. But I think it is healthy. Afterall, it was an accident. Granted it was stupid…and it had grave consequences, but the driver was only guilty of being stupid. I think we need to examine intent more when considering charges, guilt, or sentencing. There is little difference between texting, talking on a cell phone, leaning over to change the radio station, turning toward the back to scold the kids, drinking a cup of coffee, etc. All of us do these things. Should they all be made illegal? I don’t think so.

   Regarding the previous comment: Why create an “us vs. them” doomsday scenario out of this? There is nothing in the article that indicates that a cyclists “rights” were violated. Why assume that the driver is not himself an avid cyclist as well?

4. 4 Steve Reger  on Nov 27th, 2005 at 10:16 pm

   You are very right. Unfortunately, there is an us against them with SOME, not all, non-riding people. I also agree that all of us do things like that while driving and that those things should not be illegal, BUT we don’t all kill people. In the event of someone dying, the penalty should be bad. I would feel the same way about someone walking as well. If you kill someone, whether by accident or not, unless it is self-defense, the penalty should be stiff.

Leave a Reply